Numerous illuminated flying disks are known in the art, but none offer the novel, symmetrically opposed housings which significantly improve the flying characteristics of the disk over existing illuminated disks found in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,798,834 to Samuel, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,212 to Li, teach centrifugally actuated illumination devices for flying toys, but the exposed, unaerodynamic configuration of the associated hardware of each illumination device alters the flight associated hardware of each illumination device alters the flight characteristics of the disk. Furthermore, the associated illumination hardware of Samuel is distributed toward the center of the disk. The present invention has recessed, aerodynamically shaped housings to cover the control circuitry and power supply which are located at the outer edges of the disk. Placing the housings at the outer edge of the disk promotes stablity during the disks flight. These special aerodynamic housings account for the exceptional flying characteristics of the present invention when same is set in rotational motion.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,812,614 to Harrington, U.S. Pat. No. 3,948,523 to Michael, U.S. Pat. No. 4,080,753 to Hiner et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,086,723 to Strawick, U.S. Pat. No. 4,132,031 to Psyras, U.S. Pat. No. 4,134,229 to Lehman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,324 to Miller et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,145,839 to Sampietro, U.S. Pat. No. 4,255,895 to LaBrecque, U.S. Pat. No. 4,301,616 to Gudgel, U.S. Pat. No. 4,307,538 to Moffitt, U.S. Pat. No. 4,431,196 to Kutnyak, U.S. Pat. No. 4,435,917 to Lee, U.S. Pat. No. 4,515,570 to Beltran, U.S. Pat. No. 4,563,160 to Lee, U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,850 to O'Riley, U.S. Pat. No. 4,681,553 to Rodarte, U.S. Pat. No. 4,778,428 to Wield, U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,749 to Petko, U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,699 to Plambeck et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,441 to Novinsky, and U.S. Pat. No. DES 312,103 to Lenox all describe illuminated flying toys, but have the components and power sources of same located at the disk's center, or distribute the weight of the illumination hardware between the disk's center and the disk's outer edge, which alter the aerodynamics of the disk's flight when set in rotational motion. The present invention locates the power source and control circuitry on the outside edges of the disk's underside, which greatly improves the disk's stability during flight. U.S. Pat. No. 4,254,575 to Gould teaches a system of illuminating a saucer-like toy, but relies on chemiluminescence rather than ordinary, easily available batteries to illuminate the saucer.
Other flying toys, such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,122 to Gillespie, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,855,728 to Hynds, 4,205,484 to Kovac et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,212,131 to Ross, 4,216,611 to Psyras, and 4,568,297 to Dunipace do not show any method of illuminating the disk.